Journey of Siegfried
by A.B.H.Heydon
Summary: A story based on the game Soul Calibur 2. Follow Siegfried on his quest under the controle of Soul Edge. Read each chapter of his journey to salvation from the evil blade. Note, some fighters will die, they may be ones you like, sorry.
1. Chapter one: Return to reality

Journey of Siegfried  
  
Chapter one, return to reality.  
  
The lights where low on the cold mountainside, ice like wind swept all around as the void's black clouds continued their mindless march in the darkened sky. A black helmet lay on a stalagmite, waiting for its owner to take up its bat like self and place it over his face. Siegfried lay upon a flattened stone sleeping a restless sleep. He tossed and turned as the dark blade, Soul Edge, corrupted him from its resting place not five feet from him. Soul Edge's one eye remained closed as it tried to realign itself with its once powerful host, as it had been doing for the past few years. Only a single misinformed raven took notice as Siegfried woke with a scream.  
Siegfried's breathing was short as he let the sweat drip down his brow, his eyes wide and awake. He was afraid to look up, to see what ghostly face he would encounter this time, to see witch of the slain was paying him a visit. Ever Xianghua had caused the Evil Seed, and he had been forced into the void, visions of the ones he had killed had begun to haunt his every waking moment. He forced himself to look up, right into the face of his long dead father.  
"...F...Father...?" The only words he could say before the ghost vanished, head shaking in disappointment.  
Soul Edge's eye opened as the night lifted himself from his resting- place and walked over to a polished rock he had been using as a mirror. The reflection was not the one of Siegfried Schtauffen, but one of the infamous Nightmare, a night nothing more then the embodiment of the dark blade.  
"Why do you torment me? I have done nothing but gather souls for you to feast upon, at the cost of people dear to me. Why do you persist in toying with my mind!?" Yelled Siegfried into the reflection.  
Nightmare raised one eyebrow, "Torment? I have not caused the ghosts to come, why blame it on me? It was your own will that they appear here."  
"My own will? No, I would never wish them here, I'd wish them gone, gone, GONE!" he slammed his mutated fist into the wall beside him, a crack formed.  
"But you do want them here, it is a way of punishing yourself."  
"If that is true, it is punishment for all the wrongs I did in your name." He ran his normal hand through his hair, brushing out some of the dirt and sand. "You turned me into this...this..." He looked down at his misshapen arm, "Thing."  
"Power does have some draw backs you know."  
"A changed body, and a broken promise, draw backs I love to have in my life as a warrior."  
"Sarcasm will get you nowhere boy."  
"Boy? I am no common child."  
"In my eye you are still a boy, I had lived for years before your birth."  
A black raven flew into the cave and perched on top of a zweihander blade resting next to Siegfried's armor. It made a loud cawing sound and dropped a small metal fragment in front of the requiem. Siegfried looked at the shard then ventured toward it, a feeling of duty starting to creep over him. As he reached out for the evil scrap, the bird called once then flew off.  
"It seems the time has come for us to return to the real world, a rip in this dismal void has opened, and I do so wish to be whole once again." Came Soul Edge in Siegfried's mind. "Come, rest, once you have regained your strength, we will venture to your home world."  
Siegfried looked at the demonic blade, its words actually held caring, compassion, things he had only heard the blade say when he had first taken up its hilt. He ventured over to the slab of a bed and laid down his head. Sleep came quickly to the once great warrior, came as quickly as Soul Edge worked to turn him back into Nightmare once and for all...  
  
When he awoke, Nightmare's eyes had turned red again, and he felt his strength returning to him. He lifted his armor from its resting-place, a small mouse that had taken refuge in its metal interior ran off into the darkness of the void. Nightmare reattached the plating to his body and reached for his helmet, pausing when he caught site of the requiem. It was the sword he had used for the last couple of months, the only other blade he had held in his hands sense the Faust.  
Soul Edge's voice rang in Nightmare's head, "Take it with you, it could come in handy later on."  
"Yes master," replied Nightmare, "If you think it bast."  
Nightmare garbed his helmet and put it on, its weight once again resting on his brow. On his back he slinged the requiem and then with his changed arm, garbed Soul Edge. He was ready to go, but he took one last look at the home he had been in for the last few months, barren, hollow, dark, all of witch he felt inside of him. This cave was now a reflection of what he was feeling, what he had become.  
The black raven came swooping down and dropped another shard of Soul Edge in Nightmare's hand, he lifted it to the sky and let the power flow through him before returning it to the evil blade. It felt cold, the flames of the evil feel on his skin like new snow, but the power was there, burning his core. Old thoughts both filed and left his head, the blade's eye opened at the power it had regained, the time had come to leave. The raven jumped off its perch and flew towards the void's opening, Nightmare followed close behind.  
The fresh air was a change of pace for the dark night, he took a second to take a good breath of it before setting out to his old strong hold. To his good fortune, the tare in the void was only ten miles north of his old fortress. Now the only problem was to try and get to it unnoticed, he had come back to a world enjoying midday. During his time as Nightmare, Siegfried had gained a reputation as a living horror, thus people would not be too happy to see him. He had no cloak to hid under, and no horse to ride, people were sure to see him if he took normal roads, it was then he remembered an old passage he and his band of brigands, the Schwarzwind, had created as a means to go undercover when traveling.  
  
He turned, the forest where the secret passage was not but two hundred yards in front of him. With any luck he could get there without any problems, but he still needed to keep his wits about him. 


	2. Chapter two: Fighters Awaken

Chapter Two: Fighters awaken  
  
The birds in the trees began to stir, Taki broke out of her meditation as he swords, Rekki-Maru and Mekki-Maru, began to glow. The fragments of Soul Edge she had fused into them were awakening. She jumped out of the make-shift hammock that she had crafted and positioned herself on the tops of the trees. Her eyes closed as she tried to determine the whereabouts of the demon.  
"Soul Edge has returned, I must destroy it once and for all." And with that she dropped, jumping from tree to tree towards her destination.  
  
"Where is Sophitia?" yelled Cassandra as she burst into her sisters house, "Where has she gone?"  
Rathion, Sophitia's husband, looked up from the sword he was sharpening. "Ah, Cassandra, how good to see you."  
"Don't play games, where is my sister?"  
"She's lying down, some of her scars had started hurting, so she decided to rest for a while."  
"Her...scars?"  
"Yes, the ones the Asian woman healed, the ones she got from Soul Edge."  
"But why would they be hurting?"  
"I have no clue, a customer of mine gave me this metal fragment," he produced a shard of a sword from his pocket, "And ever sense, she has become irritable, panicky, and quite out of it. The fact that our children keep fighting doesn't help either, they seem to make her worse. She had become convinced that the evil blade has something to do with it. I just pray that she will not have to be the one to stop it." With this he looked down at the blade in his hand and continued to sharpen it.  
Cassandra examined the fragment. She knew that this was a piece of that evil blade, and she did not want her sister to have to go through with that pain again. Holding the metal tightly, she ran out the door.  
Cassandra was in tears by the time she got to the temple. The hall echoed with her crying and yelling as she ran to the statue of Hephaestus.  
"Why are you doing this to my sister? What kind of almighty god are you? Do you know the pain she's in because of you? ANSWER ME!" she collapsed to the floor and threw the Soul Edge fragment at the stone god.  
The shard of metal skipped off the base of the figure and landed near a small rack containing weapons blessed by the gods. It started to glow, along with a sword that her sister had used to take out Soul Edge the first time she left, the Omega sword. Cassandra looked up, Soul Edge was alive, that's why her sister got the fragment, the gods wanted her to go and destroy the blade once and for all. She was not going to let her sister bare the burden anymore.  
"Gods, allow me to take her place in this, she has suffered enough."  
Cassandra picked up the Omega Sword and the shield next to it and walked out the door, Soul Edge piece in her hand.  
  
Sophitia awoke, still in pain. The scars Soul Edge had left her burned, he head was spinning from it all. She stumbled out of her room to see he husband sharpening his new sword. His faces told her something had happened.  
"What's wrong beloved?"  
"Cassandra just left, she took the metal shard with her." He looked at his wife, his face looked like it had aged six years, "She's going to try to destroy Soul Edge so you don't have to, she took the sacred sword with her."  
Sophitia was shocked, never had her sister done such a dangerous deed, she didn't truly know about the blades evil.  
"No...I should have been there to stop her. I need to find her, but without the Omega sword..."  
"You will have to settle for its copy." Her husband blew the last of the scrap from his newly finished blade.  
"Its what?"  
Rathion held the blade in his hand to his wife. It was an exact copy of the Omega sword.  
"A little pet project of mine, as well as this," he pulled a shield out from under the table, "I call it the Elk Shield. I was going to give them to you on your birth day, but I think now is the time that they are needed." He smiled and handed them to her.  
A new kind of energy swept over her as she took the weapons from his hand. She bent down and kissed him. Then, with out another word, she was off, off to find her sister and stop the evil blade.  
  
In the silence of the old fortress, a tattered painting began to move out of its place. Slowly, like a door, it swung open, and Nightmare stepped through the pathway. The trip through the forest had gone by with out any effort, it seemed that no one knew its back roads anymore.  
Nightmare scanned the site he now stood. It had seemed that nothing had changed sense when the last fight was there. Bones lay all around, furniture was broken and out of place, much of the place had not been touched save for the occasional thief looking for some gold.  
"What a mess, I just hope I can find enough supplies amongst all this to hold me over." Muttered Nightmare as he walked along the death-paved path of the room.  
As he bent down to check a pack that lay on top of what looked to have once been a night, he heard a noise behind him. The sound of heals clicking on the stone floor echoed through the halls. Nightmare took the Requiem off his back, and placed it on a still standing table. Soul Edge in the ready, he faced the archway just as an old face emerged.  
"I thought I smelled something evil about here, I didn't think I'd find you Nightmare." Said the cloaked figure.  
"It's been a long time, hasn't it Ivy. I see you still have your Ivy blade." Nightmare said, a smile behind the helmet.  
"Silence fiend, the blades name is the same as my own, Valentine. Ever sense you used me to find souls for that sharpened piece of flesh I have not been able to come to terms with myself. I spent many long months in my lab, searching my soul to find the truth. Now, I realize that I must destroy that evil blade if I am ever to repent for my father's blood."  
"Repent for your fathers blood? Now why would you do that, what has he done that was so terrible, that it lingers on you as well?"  
Her eyes narrowed as she pulled off her cloak. "He was the former wielder of that demonic sword, Cervantes De Leon."  
"Ahh," Nightmare chuckled, "Now I get it, destroy Soul Edge, free your father's soul, and then all will be right again."  
"You wretched creature!" Screamed Ivy as she pulled out the Valentine. With a quick snap of her wrist, the blade extended and was fly at the dark night.  
Nightmare only had to sidestep to dodge it, his hand lunged out and grabbed a link on the chain. With a little tug, the blade shattered, its pieces falling to the floor.  
"Now Ivy, you know that attacking in anger never works. Now your snake blade is in shards on the ground. What do you plan to do?" He laughed a dark laugh as he said this.  
"Now, now, do you think I'm done and out so easily? Think again."  
The Valentine's shards began to move into the air. They quickly started to flay faster and faster around the cursed warrior, slowly tightening the circle. One by one, the flying shrapnel zoomed in for an attack. Like flies, nightmare swatted the shards away as they came at him.  
"I grow board of this," he grabbed on of the pieces coming at him, "Time to send this back where it came from."  
He threw the fragment at Ivy, catching her off guard. The metal hit her straight in the chest, the force caused her to fall backwards, and a piece of Soul Edge to fall out of her belt. The rest of the Valentine fell to the ground as Nightmare walked over to the newly uncovered Soul Edge shard. He picked it up and added it to the demon blade.  
"Well, well, looks like I know how you found me, thanks, I was looking for this."  
"That was not meant for you." Ivy spat as she said this.  
"I have what I came for, you may go."  
"I will not leave until I see you dead!" she jumped up and lunged at the forsaken beast.  
Nightmare turned and grabbed her by the throat with his disfigured hand. He lifted her a foot off of the ground as she dropped her sword. Their eyes met as he spoke quietly to her.  
"I will set things right, get thee gone, I don't want to shed you blood this day. I will set thing as they should be." He threw her to the ground, "Now get thee gone before I change my mind."  
"Ivy grabbed her blade and raced out the door, she looked back once, then never looked back again.  
"Nightmare, why did you let her go?" Hissed Soul Edge.  
"It is too early for blood to be shed, give it some time master, you will have souls soon enough." He gazed out into the open hall, "We will all be happy soon enough." 


	3. Chapter three: Tournament beginnings

Chapter three: Tournament beginnings  
  
All was quite in the money pit, Voldo went about his duties of patrolling the tomb, to make sure nothing would disturb his master's sleep. Though his eyes had been covered, and had long sense seen a light of any kind, he still moved around the place as though he had sight. It had been four years sense he had brought back that sword for his master, yet still no voice had come. Voldo was sure that the blade was the Soul Edge his mater had sought.  
As Voldo thought about this, he heard a new presence enter the tomb. With speed unmatched, he raced to where he heard the noise. No one had entered the pit in a few years, rumors of Voldo's skills kept people away for the most part. This thought was soon taken out of his head as he loomed over the trespasser.  
The man was garbed in a brown vest with a greenish turban rapped around his head. He wore tan pants with boots going up to the knees, and a belt containing many a pouch and a single scimitar. He had the looks of just another thief about him, nothing special, Voldo had taken many thieves out, many of that were better dressed for the job as well. The boy just kept looking around, searching for something. Gold, Voldo thought, It's always gold.  
Voldo dropped from his hiding place landing softly behind the young intruder, his katars, Manas and Ayus, rapped around his hands. The boy's last thought was looking for money when Voldo slayed him, causing one of the bags to fall off and spill its continence to the floor, four small shards of a red metal. Voldo looked down and picked one up, it was admitting a strange energy, an evil one. The energy reminded him of the sword he had brought back, the one he thought was Soul Edge, but it was stronger. Could it be that he had not brought Soul Edge back to his master? But that would mean Soul Edge was still out there, and if he brought the real one, maybe his master would wake up.  
Voldo's mind was racing, he flew to the sword he had brought back with the metal shards in his hands. He held them out to the blade, but with no response, it was not Soul Edge. He knew he had to leave now, the quicker he could bring back Soul Edge, the quicker his master would wake up. Voldo raced out of the Money Pit, leaving one piece of Soul Edge behind next to the sword he had found, not realizing it was gone.  
  
Three days after Voldo had left the Money pit, another intruder entered. He wore an odd out fit, that looking like a cross between a samurai's armor and a ninjas uniform. Yet the colors where bright and his right arm seemed to be wooden, but still moved like a normal arm. There was a flag hitched to his belt and a mask hid his face.  
Yoshimitsu ventured into the deep passages of the tomb, searching for some gold to give to a poor village he had been to. He ventured carefully, he had heard tell of a guardian that killed all who set foot into this place, and his sword had been taken four years ago. Yet he needed to find the riches this place illegibly help.  
It was after a few minuets that he sensed a familiar energy force somewhere from the pit. The power seemed to guide him to a small room in the center of the tomb. Inside was dark, save three torches on the walls, a coffin lay in the middle, along with Yoshimitsu's sword. He stepped forward to claim his weapon, discovering a small shard of metal next to it.  
He reached down and picked the two up items. His sword still admitted the dark aura it had before, yet, this metal shard seemed to have the same energy that his sword did. It was Soul Edge, it had returned. In order to purify his blade once more, it was his job to destroy the evil blade.  
He tucked the shard in a pouch, took up his sword, and with out another thought, he left the tomb to find Soul Edge.  
  
Another solder fell dead the gourd as the monster claimed his prize. The rain fell softly on the misshapen head of Necrid. It was a short while ago that the void had reopened allowing him to venture back into the real world. Yet even with his freedom, he only had on thought in his mind, to collect as many shards of Soul Edge, and kill who ever got in his way. Thus he walked through the land trying to find all he could, no other thought in his head. Maleficus glowed brightly in the containment unit he had in his chest.  
  
Nightmare finished his little restock mission at the Chapel; he walked outside, a cloak on his shoulders. A single black horse was in the stables, a gift from Ivy no doubt, he hitched a cart to it and loaded it full of his supplies. On the sides he lashed his two swords, one on each side. Luckily the black mare was strong enough to hold Nightmare and his armor. With out another glance back, he was off.  
He travailed for a day, heading where Soul Edge told him it sensed a shard. On the setting of the second sun, he arrived at a small town where Soul Edge said it found. It was quite as he trotted into the dusty streets, an inn was in plane site. He hitched his horse in the side barn and went in.  
"Even'n," Said the innkeeper as Nightmare walked into the dimly lit building. "Need a place to stay?"  
"That would be nice." Growled Nightmare.  
"You sick boy? Your voice seems a bit horse, no matter, it'll cost you three gold to stay here."  
"I'm fine, just the helm," He fished out three coins and placed them on the table with his good hand, "Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to get some rest."  
"Well, you'll be needing it if you all's going to enter the fighting tourney tomorrow." Said the innkeeper collected the money.  
"The what?"  
"Well, you just came, so I guess you wouldn't know. Tomorrow, they's gana hold a tourney, to see who is the best fighter in these parts, now, lots have come to par-take in it. Couple of chines looken people stayen' in the inn across the way. Grand prize is the oddest of trinkets, an broch with a glowing fragment of metal in it. Some say it was one part of the sword of salvation, that Soul Edge thing. I don't know myself, but people still want it. It was found in an antique store and everyone started fighten' over it, so to stop the fighting, they made this match to see who's worthy of it."  
Nightmare thought for a moment, the tournement would give him some practice and would also give him a piece of Soul Edge, "I think I'll enter it, to show my skills."  
"Well, good luck to ya' then, sleep well."  
Nightmare walked up to his room and closed the door, tomorrow was turning out to be a long day for him, but it was all going to be worth it in the end. He placed Soul Edge next to the bed and striped out of his armor, ready for a good night sleep. Across the way, in the other inn, two warriors, Yungsung, and Seung Mina, also slept, not know who had just rolled into town. 


End file.
